Karaoke Nights
by Midnight Raptor
Summary: Oh, he is never going to let her live this one down. Never. He's going to carry this image with him until the day he dies and blackmail really doesn't get any better than this when it comes to Kate Beckett and oh, jeez how is he not recording this right now? Post-Always summer. One-Shot.


A/N: Hello, Castle fandom! I'm not new to fic writing but I am new to this wonderful fandom. I've always been interested in the show but didn't start watching until March at which point I fell head over heels in love with everything about it. I've been reading stories on here, lurking, and they seriously are the best I've ever read and I've been on this site for a while. So here is my contribution to this amazing show. This is dedicated to the GENIUSES that are **International08** and **Cartographical** as they are completely responsible for sucking me into the fanfic world of Castle. Seriously. My God. So, here it is! I hope you all enjoy! :)

Disclaimer: Merely borrowing Andrew Marlowe's characters. Also borrowing from Carly Rae Jepsen and One Direction.

_Karaoke Nights_

He is never letting Gina harass him into another one of her absurd meetings again.

He doesn't care if she moves up his publishing dates or demands extra chapters in the next Nikki Heat book or fires him altogether.

He's not going.

He jams his thumb into the elevator call button, ardently repeating this in his head as if doing so would magically give him the willpower to resist his dragon lady of a publisher the next time she decided to call another impromptu meeting.

It isn't that he finds them a colossal waste of time. Of course not. He knows what goes on in those meetings, how everything from promotional cover art to his book tours and press meetings are smoothed out so it all goes off without a hitch and he's eternally grateful for that.

He just finds them to be a colossal waste of time for _him_. Because instead of spending the day hunting for dorm necessities with Kate and Alexis like they had planned, he found himself sitting silent in one of Black Pawn's conference rooms as various suits and others of the like bickered amongst themselves, desperately praying for a meteor to strike the building just so the meeting would end.

The elevator doors slide open before him and he gets on, presses the button for his floor. Stepping back until he's leaning against the cool metal behind him, he pinches the bridge of his nose and laments what could've been an excellent day.

Alexis had been itching to go dorm shopping ever since she'd gotten her room assignment several days ago which, of course, sparked an unending cacophony of pleas for him to please finish the chapter he was stuck on because the post-4th of July sales were still happening and honestly, Dad why did you insist on those water balloon and water gun fights when you were already three chapters behind in Frozen Heat?

—Because his little girl was growing up and leaving him forever and he was entitled to some professional laziness so he could savor their last few weeks together, thank you very much.—

But he'd finally gotten over it yesterday—the writer's block, not his daughter's impending departure—and assured his only child that they would finally venture into the city to start their quest for dorm essentials the following day, the prospect of which all but sent Alexis bouncing off the walls at dinner.

"Why don't you come tomorrow, Kate?" she asked between bites of baked salmon.

The detective paused, her fork halfway to her mouth, clearly caught quite off-guard by the request. "Are—are you sure?"

"Yeah, it'd be great. I could use your opinion since you went to college."

Kate smiled slightly, nose crinkling in that adorable way he loved. "I think your dad went to college too."

"Yeah, but unfortunately his definition of 'practical' differs vastly from mine."

"It's true," he supplied, nodding sagely. "Freshmen year my iron doubled as a grill."

Both women rounded on him, equally disdainful and reproachful expressions fixed on their faces. _Uncanny._

"What? It worked. Cooked everything from bacon to grilled cheese."

He saw Kate fight to not roll her eyes, smirked when she couldn't entirely succeed and her lids fluttered with the effort.

"Sure, Alexis," she said at last, turning her attention back to the redhead. "I'd love to come."

Alexis beamed and as she began to rattle off all the places they could check out, his eyes flicked over to Kate, watching as she commented on Alexis's suggestions. He sat quietly, taking in the scene before him with unguarded affection. His daughter might have taken a while to warm up to the idea of him and Kate finally being in this together after years of dancing around it but there was no doubt that she had accepted the other woman into her life now.

Dinner ended and after a few quick games of Dance Central in which Alexis dominated over them both, he accompanied Kate downstairs and tucked her into a cab, steeling a quick kiss as he murmured good night into her lips. He'd attempted to persuade her to just spend the night since she'd just have to come back tomorrow morning anyway but she was having none of it, had shushed him with a stern but slightly amused smile and told him they needed to maintain at least some semblance of boundaries. So he spent the night alone, sorely missing her presence beside him even as his sheets still held her scent and had him seriously considering going over to her place instead.

He woke the next morning to the steady vibration of his phone against his bedside table. A quick glance at the screen revealed five missed calls and two voicemails from Gina, all of which he intended to ignore but eventually gave in to when it became clear she wasn't going to stop. He regretted his decision instantly as her nagging voice simpered through the speaker, demanding none too politely that he get down to Black Pawn by 10 and of course she had told him about this weeks ago, Richard—_fat chance_—and no, he was to make no excuses.

He hated to disappoint Alexis but saw no way out, not when Gina had threatened him with some very unpleasant things involving parts of him he'd very much like to keep. But then Kate arrived and Alexis suggested that she and Kate just go ahead without him much to his dismay since he had been quite looking forward to sharing this particular experience with his daughter.

"We're not gonna get everything in one day, Dad," she laughed, trying to placate him. "You can come next time."

So the matter was settled, not without some reluctant grumbling from him, and after a quick breakfast, he pressed his credit card into Alexis's hand, called a town car for women—"It's easier this way, you can just leave the stuff in the car."—, and parted ways at the curb.

The meeting was, as he predicted, a monotonous affair during which he literally said a total of seven words despite the fact that his presence was of the "utmost importance" according to Gina. Kate and Alexis seemed to take some pity on him though and kept him entertained throughout the day by sending him pictures of various things they found on their endeavors. It wasn't until Alexis sent a picture of an ad for a life-sized replica of the Iron Throne from Game of Thrones which promptly caused him to let out a short squeal that Gina finally snapped and suggested that if he was just going to act like a child then maybe he should just let the adults deal with things from now on. He leaped at the out, didn't even hesitate as he made hasty good-byes to the others gathered at the table casting him bewildered looks and bounded out the door even with nearly an hour left in the meeting.

The elevator chimes then, announcing its arrival at his floor, and he steps out, fishes his keys from his pocket. He knows Gina is going to make him pay for bailing out of the meeting like that but he can't even get himself to begin to care, not when all he wants right now is to curl up on the couch with Kate, eat the dinner she had texted him earlier she was making, and continue the Game of Thrones marathon they had started last week when Kate had admitted to having never seen the show.

He approaches his door, slides the key in the lock but stills suddenly.

There's music. Inside, leaking through the door, the walls, loud and pulsing, rattling his ear as he presses it to the wood.

He glances at his watch, thinking maybe it's Alexis but it's already 5:00 and she should've left for her slumber party already and Mother's on that acting retreat so...

_What the hell?_

Curiosity gets the best of him and he twists his key and opens the door, slowly, quietly.

And wow.

_Wow_.

This is just...not what he was expecting. Not in the slightest.

Because there, standing in his kitchen, arms flailing around over her head as she belts out the words to the song, is Kate Beckett.

"I beg and borrow and steal. At first sight and it's real. I didn't know I could feel it but it's in my way."

Dumbstruck, he eases the door shut behind him, although with her back turned to him and the music blaring from the iPhone dock on the counter at its highest volume he doubts she'd hear him anyway. He manages to tear his eyes away from her for a moment, scanning the apartment for any trace of Alexis but finds none and the whole scenario becomes even more bewildering.

His gaze snaps back to Kate, still singing, still dancing with wild abandon by the sink, and his eyebrows rise even further into his forehead. She's holding the vegetable peeler in one hand and something else—is that a carrot?—in the other while using the latter as a makeshift microphone.

"Your stare was holding. Ripped jeans, skin was showing. Hot night, wind was blowing. Where you think you're going, baby?"

As she continues on to the chorus, he feels his mouth curving into a bemused smile. This may be the first time he's ever seen her like this but it isn't the first time he's heard her sing this song.

They were heading for the vic's address after getting a call of a body down by the water. As Kate negotiated the crowded New York streets, made even more perilous by the multitude of pedestrians taking advantage of the unusually warm March day, he sat riding shotgun as always, fully concentrated on beating his highest score on Temple Run. They rode in silence, neither feeling the need to say anything in particular, a testament to how far they had come in their partnership of four years. But the radio played quietly in the background, filling the cruiser with pop songs that the previous detective who had signed out the car had been listening to but hadn't been changed in the meantime by Kate. A particularly catchy song began filtering through the speakers and he immediately recognized it as one that Alexis had been listening to quite often lately. The singer was picking up tempo and starting on the catchiest part when a second, much softer voice joined in.

His eyes shot up from his phone, allowing the little animated man to fall to his death, and he snapped his head around to look at his partner.

"Beckett, are you singing along?"

She flushed. "What? No! No, I wasn't―"

But he saw it, heard it, couldn't _believe_ it. "Yes, you were. _Oh_, my God, you know this song!" he exclaimed with gleeful surprise.

"I wasn't singing. I was just―"

"What, talking to yourself?"

"Castle, don't be ridiculous," she scolded as her cheeks burned an even brighter crimson.

"I mean, I don't blame you," he went on earnestly. "It's a catchy song. Alexis is pretty into it too."

"Oh jeez, Castle." He could practically hear her eyes rolling. "There was no singing or talking or any combination thereof, okay?"

"Okay…" he relented with a shrug, turning his attention back to his phone. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her relax, shoulders falling slightly at his silence, but he wasn't letting this go too easily.

"But it's 'at you baby' not 'as your baby' although I could see how you'd get that wrong."

She smacked him in the chest.

"Ow!"

That shut him up good but didn't do anything about the smug smirk he kept hidden from her view the rest of the day.

She's jumping up and down now, pumping the fist closed around the carrot in the air in time with the beat. Oh, he is never going to let her live this one down. Never. He's going to carry this image with him until the day he dies and blackmail really doesn't get any better than this when it comes to Kate Beckett and oh, _jeez_ how is he not _recording_ this right now?

He digs into his pocket for his phone, prays she doesn't notice him until after he gets at least 10 seconds worth of footage. But his excitement is too much and in his haste, he fumbles the phone and his keys and both go crashing to the floor. Even with the music blaring, the sound echoes jarringly through the wood-floored loft and it's all it takes to bring the scene before him to a screeching halt.

"Castle?!" Kate screams, dropping her arms and spinning around to face him. A hand shoots out, now missing the vegetable peeler, and blindly slaps the iPhone dock to silence it. "What're you doing here?"

He grabs his things from the ground and cocks an eyebrow in amusement. "I…live here."

"I mean, what're you doing here _now_? I thought you said the meeting would run until 5."

"Gina finally came to her senses and realized my presence was neither necessary nor useful." Dropping his keys in the bowl by the coat closet, he makes his way to the kitchen, the beginnings of a smirk tugging at his lips. "You gonna tell me why you're having a karaoke session in my kitchen?"

The tips of her ears turn an adorable shade of red as she scoops up the peeler from the floor and hastily places the carrot she's been holding on the counter with the others. "I…I was just―"

"Red-handed, Beckett. No getting yourself out of this one."

It's her turn to arch an eyebrow. "Oh, really?" And then she's sauntering towards him, hips swaying just so, green eyes darkening dangerously, and _damn_, he knows that look. She isn't going to make this easy.

She presses hard to his front, every line and curve of her body hot and inviting against his as her fingers dance up his chest and slip through his hair. She stills for a moment, lips just ghosting over his, before leaning in and claiming his mouth with her own.

He lets her think she has the upper hand, snakes an arm around her waist to pull her close—because who is he kidding, he's enjoying this too—but he isn't letting this one go. Not like last time.

So he breaks away, ungluing her using the same arm he used to hold her to him. "Nope. No, no. I want answers, woman."

She glares at him, lips just slightly swollen from their kiss, crosses her arms over her chest and if he wasn't so bent on getting an explanation he would've pinned her up against the fridge and had his way with her. "So I like the song. Sue me."

"Oh, I don't think I'll be suing you. Bar gigs and private concerts seem much more lucrative. Besides," He wags an eyebrow, entirely too pleased with himself at the moment. "I think it's adorable. Very…un-Beckett-like."

"Well, don't be getting used to it. I'm not into repeat performances."

He tilts his head. "Really? But isn't that what this is? Because I'm pretty sure you sang this in the car a few months ago." She walked right into that one.

"Keep talking, Castle and I won't be the only one singing." She turns away, focusing her attention on the carrots that lay abandoned by the sink.

He watches as she begins to cut them, studiously avoiding his eye. She's annoyed, yes, but more out of embarrassment than anything else. So, lips twitching with a smile, he decides to put himself on the line as well.

"Would it make you feel better if you weren't?"

She doesn't reply, doesn't even acknowledge his question, just stands there running the knife through the carrots with skilled precision. Suddenly, his idea is looking extremely stupid. But he carries on. Walking up behind her, he brackets her body with his, feels her stiffen slightly against him, and, brushing his lips to her ear, starts to sing.

"You're insecure. Don't know what for. You're turning heads when you walk through the door. Don't need make up to cover up. Being the way that you are is enough."

Oh, he really can't believe he's doing this. She's going to own his pride from now on, he's damn sure of it. But he loves her and if this doesn't placate her he doesn't know what will.

She relaxes into him, her body melting into his, and he can almost feel her smile growing on her face. She knows this song, he knows she does, knows exactly what he's sacrificing by singing it. She was over for game night one time, locked in a vicious Empire war with him and Alexis when his daughter suddenly leapt up from the floor and dove for the remote, breathlessly exclaiming that Starz was airing a concert of one of her favorite bands. He and Kate then watched in amusement as Alexis proceeded to squeal at the TV as the five young men began to sing. He didn't mention it to Kate but he was quite familiar with the songs already, Alexis's nonstop repetition of them engraining them in his head.

She lets go of the knife and he turns her in his arms, catching her soft green eyes as they drift up to meet his.

"Everyone else in the room can see it. Everyone else but you. Baby, you light up my world like nobody else. The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed. But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell."

Her lips quirk upward at that and she ducks her head but he gently tips her face back up with a finger under her chin.

"You don't know oh, oh. You don't know you're beautiful. That's what makes you beautiful."

He finishes the word in her mouth, tastes her intoxicating sweetness, willing her to know he means every word of this ridiculous song.

"Are we even?" he murmurs when they part, nose bumping softly against hers.

She nods, pulls her bottom lip between her teeth.

"Good. Because that's the only time you'll ever catch me singing that song."

Chuckling quietly, she steals another kiss before going back to the carrots.

He watches her for a moment. Even now two months later, he's still in awe of the fact that they're finally in this and she's here in his kitchen making them dinner just because she feels like it. But before she can hound him for staring again, he steps away and makes for his bedroom to change into something more couch-lounging appropriate.

"So, you got anything else in your repertoire besides annoyingly catchy boy band songs?"

He stops at that question, turns back to look at her, a smirk firmly in place.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

* * *

A/N: Thoughts? I'm not a One Direction fan but damn that song is catchy. Check out the version by Boyce Avenue on YouTube. It's the version I imagined Castle singing. I had a blast writing this. Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. :)

Check me out on twitter if you'd like: Dany_Jarvis


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